Thursday's proposal by the White House would slash the EPA's budget by 31 percent - nearly one third - from its current level of $8.1 billion to $5.7 billion. It would cut 3,200 positions, or more than 20 percent of the agency's current workforce of about 15,000.

'You can't drain the swamp and leave all the people in it. So, I guess the first place that comes to mind will be the Environmental Protection Agency,' Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told reporters. 'The president wants a smaller EPA. He thinks they overreach, and the budget reflects that.'

The Commerce cuts would eliminate $ 250 million in coastal research programs that prepare communities for rising seas and worsening storms, including the popular $73 million Sea Grant program, which works with universities in 33 states.

The Trump budget document asserts that these programs 'primarily benefit industry and State and local stakeholders, 'making them a 'lower priority.'"